Safety-compartment for ships



Patented J an, 13,1920

lllit ll m '1 W/TNESSES IUTORNE/S UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

YOUNG K. BUELL, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

'SAFETY-COIEPARTMENT FOR SHIPS.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Jan, 13, 1920,

Application filed April 14, 1917, Serial No. 162,027. Renewed July 10,1919. Serial'No. 309,969.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I YOUNG K. BUELL, a citizenof China, and a resident of the city of New York, borough of Manhattan,in the county and State of New York, have invented a new and ImprovedSafety-Compartment for Ships, of which the followingis'a full, clear,and exact description.

This invention relates to means for preventing the sinking of a boat ifthe hull becomes torn open or punctured by shells.

The invention has for its general objects to provide means for inflatingthe compartments of the ship by compressed air, so that the entrance ofwater will be excluded and.

the ship maintain a floating buoyancy.

A more specific object of the invention is to provide a plurality ofair-holding bags in the compartments of a ship, which bags are normallydeflated and are provided with; valves so designed that when air issupplied;

from a suitable source one bag will be inflated, and when completelyfilled the valve therefor is closed and the valve for the other bag inthe same compartment will be auto-" matically released so that in caseof leakage and deflation of the first bag the second bag will beautomatically filled.

Still another object is the provision of an auxiliary tank through whichair is supplied. to the bags in a compartment, the tank serv ing to holda supply of air for the second bag to fill the same in case the firstbag ispunctured, 831d tank or reservoir havlng means for automaticallycutting ofl the sup-- ply of air thereto when the pressure reaches acertain point, and at thesame time a signal I will be operated toindicate the condition of the particular compartment.

With such objects in view, and others which will appear as thedescription proceeds, the invention comprises various novel features ofconstruction and arrangement of parts which be set forth withparticularity in the following description and claims appended hereto.

In the accompanying drawing, which illustrates one embodiment of theinvention and wherein similar characters of reference indicatecorresponding parts in all the views,

Figure 1 is a side view of a ship havlng a portion of its hull brokenaway to 1nd1cate a plurality of compartments and a1r-supplying meanstherefor;

Fig. 2 is a detail sectional view of one of the compartments with themechanism for controlling the supply of air to the bags therein, thefirst bag being in the act of inflation; and i v Fig. 3 is a similarview showing the first bag in punctured condition and the second bagbeing inflated.

Referring .to the drawing, A designates a ship of any type which isprovided with a plurality of compartments 1 in which are arranged safetyappliances for preventing sinking of the boat in case the hull is hit byshells or otherwise injured. In each compartment are bags B and C whichare connected respectively with separate branches 2 and 3 of a pipe 4:.The pipe 4t is connected with a tank 5, which in turn receives air underpressure from any suitable source through a pipe 6. The connections 2and 3 are controlled respectively by slide valves 7 and 8 so arrangedthat when one is open the other is closed. The valve 7 is provided witha spring 9 which'tends to hold the port 10 of the valve in openposition, so that air can flow from the tank 5 into the bag B, which islimited in its expansion by a fleXible network 11, as is also the bag 0.The lower end of the valve 7 is provided with a plate 12 whereby theinflating bag 13 can act on the valve to raise the same and cut off theflow of air through the connection 2. A spring latch 13 on the valve 7passes upwardly through a catch or bracket 1% so that when the lower endof the latch engages the top of the catch the valve 7 will be held inclosed position againstthe tension of the spring 9. Thus the supply ofair to the bag B will be automatically cut off when the bag is properlyinflated.

The valve S'has a port 15 normally held out of registry with the conduit3 by a hookshaped stop or latch 16 that engages the hook-shaped catch orprojection 17 011 the valve 8. A spring 18 urges the valve 8 downwardlyso that when the bag B loccomes deflated the valve 8 will move to openposition and permit air to pass from the tank 5 into the bag C. When thebag B is inflated it engages a plate 19 under the plate 1:2 and causesthe plate 1 9 to move upwardly and carry with it the plate 12 to closethe valve 7, and also to disengage the catch from the latch 16, wherebythe spring 20 of the latch 16 moves the latter to one side so as to beout of the Way of the catch 17 when the valve 8 descends upon thedeflation of the bag 13, and when this takes place the parts will shiftfrom the position shown in Fig. 2 to that shown in Fig. 3, wherein thebag C is being inflated.

When the air is supplied from the main source through the pipe 6, thepressure builds up in the tank 5 and eventually it acts on a plunger 21to overcome the tension of the spring 22, whereby the plunger throw theport 23 of the valve 24 out of registry with the pipe 6, andconsequently the tank 5 will be cut off from the source of supply. Thismovement of the valve 2% causes the contacts 25 and 26 to engage,whereby the signal circuit 27 is closed to thereby indicate thecondition of the safety device in the compartment for which the signalis designated.

From the foregoing description taken in connection with the accompanyingdrawing, the advantages of the construction and method of operation willbe readily understood by those skilled in the art to which the inventionappertains, and while I have described the principle of operation,together with the device which I now consider to be the best embodimentthereof, I desire to have it understood that the device shown is merelyillustrative and that such changes may be made when desired as fallwithin the scope of the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secureby Letters Patent:

1. A ship having compartments, a bag in each compartment, means forsupplying air to the bags, and means for each bag and operatedautomatically by its respective bag to out oil the supply thereto whensuch bag is fully inflated.

2. A ship having a plurality of compartments, a pair of bags in eachcompartment, means for supplying air to the bags, a nor.- mally openvalve for one bag, a normally closed valve for the other bag, means forcausing the normally open valve to close when the bag suppliedtherethrough becomes inflated, and means for permitting the other valveto move to open position to fill the second bag when the first bagbecomes deflated.

3. A ship having compartments, a pair of bags in each compartment, anair tank, means for supplying air to the tank, and connections betweenthe tank and bags whereby one bag. is first inflated and then the secondbag if the first bag becomes deflated.

4:. A ship having compartments, a pair of bags in each compartment, anair tank, means for supplying air to the tank, con nections between thetank and bags whereby one bag is first inflated and then the second bagif the first bag becomes deflated, and an automatic valve for cuttingofl the supply of air to the tank when the pressure therein reachesapredetermined point.

5. A ship having compartments, a pair of bags in each compartment, anair tank, means for supplyin'gair to the tank, connections between thetank and bags whereby one bag is first inflated and then the second bagif the first bag becomes deflated, an automatic valve for cutting oil"the supply of air to the tank when the pressure therein reaches apredetermined point, and a signal operated when the said valve isclosed.

6. A ship having a compartment, a pair of bags therein, airsupplyconnections to the respective bags, valve in the connections,means for holding one valve open and the other valve closed, meansactuated by one bag to close the normally open valve when such bagbecomes inflated, means for holding the normally open valve in closedposition, means for normally holding the other valve closed and adaptedto be automatically released by thefirst. bag being inflated, and meansfor opening-the normally. closed valve to inflate the other bag when thefirst bag becomes deflated.

YOUNG K. BUELL.

